This article is re-'printed' from the April Newsletter of the Southern California Republican Women and Men.
On April 2, in McCutcheon vs. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to limit the total amount that citizens may donate to political entities, or to limit the total number of candidates anyone may donate to in any two-year election cycle. Per-candidate limits of $2600 in the primary and another $2600 in the general election remain, but instead of being limited to 9 candidates, a citizen may donate to any number of them. And the overall cap of $123,200 on combined candidate, party and PAC contributions is history.
Democrats and media pundits greeted the news publicly with all the serenity they might reserve for the second coming of Robert Bork. Nancy Pelosi characterized it as an 'existential threat' to the nation. But even if she is sincere, she must certainly be talking about someone else, not herself or her immediate power base, as she is no slouch when it comes to fundraising. Indeed, even the New York Times conceded that the ruling is not an unambiguous victory for any one party. In fact, the ruling favors national parties over more narrowly-focused PACs and 527s. Parties tend to be more broad-based, more transparent and accountable than PACs and 527s, and had been put at a relative disadvantage in the 2010 Citizens United ruling, which shot down limits on corporate and union money.
Republicans may be encouraged that of those donors who maxed out under the old rules, 60% contributed to Republicans, but there is no guarantee that unlimited contributions will maintain the same proportions. As for this ruling increasing the corruptibility of our politics, the Wall Street Journal points out that there were only 664 such maxed-out individuals in 2012 for a total of $93 million, which is a less-than 4% drop in the bucket compared to the $2.8 billion raised from the much larger number (1.2 million) of more ordinary tycoons like you and me. Moreover, that $2.8 billion number is only 64% of the total spent on 2012. David Brooks, the relatively conservative voice of the New York Times, reminds us that 'There will always be money in politics; it’s a pipe dream to think otherwise' and that the net effect of campaign finance restrictions in the past has been to protect incumbents.
The vote was 5-4 along the usual-suspect lines, with Justice Clarence Thomas commenting that the ruling didn't go far enough in lifting restrictions. With the per-candidate limits still in place, we have the possible moral hazard that wealthy individuals who may not personally be the best candidate for the job, are nevertheless obliged to run themselves instead of sponsoring a more qualified (by whatever criteria chosen) candidate. This tends to fill our public offices with rich dunces and people skilled at broad-spectrum fundraising at the expense of nonwealthy, less-sophisticated candidates whose experience, understanding of economics and constitutional principles nevertheless might make them the voter's choice if only a handful of donors could have gotten the word out to make the public aware of that choice.
The fact that the ruling has generated such a diversity of opinion as to what it really means and who wins is an argument in its favor. The free market is not any one institution; it is the option to choose among many institutions, or no institution at all. The market for political expression has become one increment freer. We citizens now have the blessing and the responsibility of that greater freedom.
There is yet hope for America.
Showing posts with label republican. Show all posts
Showing posts with label republican. Show all posts
Monday, April 14, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
Takeaways from CPAC
Below is an excerpt from a special address to the members and guests of the Southern California Republican Women And Men by Howard Hyde, March 29, 2014
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Once again thank you all for interrupting your Spring Break to come here today...If I have a theme to hold all of my disparate material together, I think it will be simply what Evan Sayet calls Adopt-a-Democrat. One of the most important things we do here is learn how to talk to our liberal brother-in-law, debate our progressive colleague and convert out Democrat friend. If I can impart to you just one insight or argument that you can use to that end, I will have succeeded.
It was our privilege to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference or CPAC this past March 6-8 in National Harbor Maryland. As I wrote in my newsletter message, there was so much going on that there was no way to take all of it in, and if you get briefings from 10 people who attended, you might get the impression that they attended 11 different conferences. Even so, I hope my report does it some justice and that other attendees might concur with me.
Some people were disappointed with the conference, feeling that their greatest concerns received inadequate attention. To some it was a sham cover for establishment Republicans to pretend that they are conservative when they are not; to others there was insufficient emphasis on the sanctity of life and the abomination of abortion. Dan Henninger of the Wall Street Journal cautions us to sober up about a presidential candidate bench that resembles a casino roulette wheel -- spin it enough times are we're bound to land on a lucky number! Israel, the Middle East and radical Islam received comparatively minor attention in my perception now that Putin's Anschluss of Ukraine has upstaged the mullahs and bin Laden's heirs, at least for the time being. As for myself, I was satisfied that Obamacare and its horrors are finally receiving the attention that they deserve. The Obamacare fiasco was at or near the top of almost every prominent speaker's agenda, as it should have been...last year, the year before that and the year before that. If we had had this clarity of understanding and commitment of purpose four years ago, then we would not be suffering this massive slow-motion train wreck today.
Rock Stars and Grownups
You've heard the stories of the rock stars of the conference, like the bookends Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin, and the Straw Poll king Rand Paul. I won't add much to what you've heard other than that standing outside of the main hall during Paul's speech was like being outside of a football stadium during the Super Bowl, and that Sarah Palin really, really, REALLY annoys liberals, who seem unable to offer any substantive rebuttal to what she says but feel free to insult her, and by extension us, in every way imaginable. It is clear that this NOT what the feminists had in mind when they said 'diversity' or 'equal pay for equal work'.
Rick Perry came in 9th in the straw poll, but should not be written off by thoughtful conservatives and Republicans IMHO. Unlike Obama, who never achieved anything of substance in his life before becoming President, Perry has a very distinguished record as a grownup doing the very serious work of administering a large and thriving state, proving that it is possible to prosper even in Obama's America. 30% of the job growth for all 50 United States in the past few years has occurred in just one state: Texas. Texas is the model for how all states and the nation ought to be governed; low taxes, light and reasonable regulation, limited government, a responsible citizenry (are you listening California?). Perry's accomplishments go beyond the headline-grabbing topics of taxes and jobs to less-discussed but equally remarkable areas like prison reform. Texas in recent years has been able to accomplish what liberals have for decades claimed that they could do but have failed at every time: that is, simultaneously reduce both the prison population AND the general crime rate.
And by the way, Perry also got a standing O for his speech in the main hall.
Donald Trump fired a few verbal surface-to-surface missiles in the direction of China in his usual calm and understated style. But there were also other perspectives on China, and it had me wishing that the Southern California Republican Women and Men would one day command the resources to be able to sponsor a panel discussion between Trump, Don Huntsman, former presidential candidate, governor of Utah and United States ambassador to China; Daniel Griswold, fellow at the Cato Institute and author of the pro free-trade and pro let's-all-just-calm-down-a-bit-about-China book titled Mad About Trade; and Kai Chen, our own one-in-a-billion former Chinese national basketball team player who reminds us daily that China is still an authoritarian, communist regime that tolerates no political dissent or free speech in spite of polishing the world image of a civilized, dynamic capitalistic nation. Those four authorities would make for a most enlightening discussion.
Speaking of the Cato Institute, its president John Allison was there along with Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch on a panel titled 'After Obama Day 1: What are the Big Alternative Ideas Conservatives Should Present as Obama's Term Ends? Before he became chief of Cato, for a quarter century John Allison ran a North Carolina bank guided by conservative libertarian principles, grew it from single-digit billions to triple-digit billions and did NOT need a bailout when TARP arrived, but was obliged to take it essentially at gunpoint. His book, The Financial Crisis and the Free-Market Cure is a well-informed and insightful insiders view of the government-led corruption that led to the meltdown of 2008 and the ill-advised remedies like Dodd-Frank that will plague us for years to come. I highly recommend it.
A few of the women of distinction were Chrystal Wright, a.k.a. 'Conservative Black Chick'; Tammy Bruce, radio talk show host who used to be a liberal feminist lesbian, but who is now a staunch independent conservative feminist lesbian; and Phyllis Schlafly, who, for those of you too young to remember her, earned the modest distinction of having almost single-handedly defeated an ill-advised amendment to the United States Constitution at a time when its passage had seemed almost inevitable. She was there, sharp as a tack at the tender age of 89 1/2, and I got a chance to speak with her briefly outside the elevators. I told her that as a liberal growing up in Berkeley the only way I knew about her was from reading Doonesbury cartoons. Her face lit up and she said that when she had made the Doonesbury pages, her kid's respect for her had spiked.
One of the most impressive women there UNDER the age of 89 1/2 to me was Carly Fiorina, who participated in the panel with John Allison and Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch. Very articulate on a broad range of issues, I think she will be a major figure on our side of the aisle for many years. I'm thinking maybe Secretary of Commerce? Or better yet, why not President ...of the Southern California Republican Women and Men in 2016? Just a thought.
Disappointingly absent from the conference were any of the female Republican Governors, like Susanna Martinez of New Mexico, Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Mary Fallin of Oklahoma or Jan Brewer of Arizona.
------------------------
Once again thank you all for interrupting your Spring Break to come here today...If I have a theme to hold all of my disparate material together, I think it will be simply what Evan Sayet calls Adopt-a-Democrat. One of the most important things we do here is learn how to talk to our liberal brother-in-law, debate our progressive colleague and convert out Democrat friend. If I can impart to you just one insight or argument that you can use to that end, I will have succeeded.
It was our privilege to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference or CPAC this past March 6-8 in National Harbor Maryland. As I wrote in my newsletter message, there was so much going on that there was no way to take all of it in, and if you get briefings from 10 people who attended, you might get the impression that they attended 11 different conferences. Even so, I hope my report does it some justice and that other attendees might concur with me.
Some people were disappointed with the conference, feeling that their greatest concerns received inadequate attention. To some it was a sham cover for establishment Republicans to pretend that they are conservative when they are not; to others there was insufficient emphasis on the sanctity of life and the abomination of abortion. Dan Henninger of the Wall Street Journal cautions us to sober up about a presidential candidate bench that resembles a casino roulette wheel -- spin it enough times are we're bound to land on a lucky number! Israel, the Middle East and radical Islam received comparatively minor attention in my perception now that Putin's Anschluss of Ukraine has upstaged the mullahs and bin Laden's heirs, at least for the time being. As for myself, I was satisfied that Obamacare and its horrors are finally receiving the attention that they deserve. The Obamacare fiasco was at or near the top of almost every prominent speaker's agenda, as it should have been...last year, the year before that and the year before that. If we had had this clarity of understanding and commitment of purpose four years ago, then we would not be suffering this massive slow-motion train wreck today.
Rock Stars and Grownups
You've heard the stories of the rock stars of the conference, like the bookends Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin, and the Straw Poll king Rand Paul. I won't add much to what you've heard other than that standing outside of the main hall during Paul's speech was like being outside of a football stadium during the Super Bowl, and that Sarah Palin really, really, REALLY annoys liberals, who seem unable to offer any substantive rebuttal to what she says but feel free to insult her, and by extension us, in every way imaginable. It is clear that this NOT what the feminists had in mind when they said 'diversity' or 'equal pay for equal work'.
Rick Perry came in 9th in the straw poll, but should not be written off by thoughtful conservatives and Republicans IMHO. Unlike Obama, who never achieved anything of substance in his life before becoming President, Perry has a very distinguished record as a grownup doing the very serious work of administering a large and thriving state, proving that it is possible to prosper even in Obama's America. 30% of the job growth for all 50 United States in the past few years has occurred in just one state: Texas. Texas is the model for how all states and the nation ought to be governed; low taxes, light and reasonable regulation, limited government, a responsible citizenry (are you listening California?). Perry's accomplishments go beyond the headline-grabbing topics of taxes and jobs to less-discussed but equally remarkable areas like prison reform. Texas in recent years has been able to accomplish what liberals have for decades claimed that they could do but have failed at every time: that is, simultaneously reduce both the prison population AND the general crime rate.
And by the way, Perry also got a standing O for his speech in the main hall.
Donald Trump fired a few verbal surface-to-surface missiles in the direction of China in his usual calm and understated style. But there were also other perspectives on China, and it had me wishing that the Southern California Republican Women and Men would one day command the resources to be able to sponsor a panel discussion between Trump, Don Huntsman, former presidential candidate, governor of Utah and United States ambassador to China; Daniel Griswold, fellow at the Cato Institute and author of the pro free-trade and pro let's-all-just-calm-down-a-bit-about-China book titled Mad About Trade; and Kai Chen, our own one-in-a-billion former Chinese national basketball team player who reminds us daily that China is still an authoritarian, communist regime that tolerates no political dissent or free speech in spite of polishing the world image of a civilized, dynamic capitalistic nation. Those four authorities would make for a most enlightening discussion.
Speaking of the Cato Institute, its president John Allison was there along with Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch on a panel titled 'After Obama Day 1: What are the Big Alternative Ideas Conservatives Should Present as Obama's Term Ends? Before he became chief of Cato, for a quarter century John Allison ran a North Carolina bank guided by conservative libertarian principles, grew it from single-digit billions to triple-digit billions and did NOT need a bailout when TARP arrived, but was obliged to take it essentially at gunpoint. His book, The Financial Crisis and the Free-Market Cure is a well-informed and insightful insiders view of the government-led corruption that led to the meltdown of 2008 and the ill-advised remedies like Dodd-Frank that will plague us for years to come. I highly recommend it.
A few of the women of distinction were Chrystal Wright, a.k.a. 'Conservative Black Chick'; Tammy Bruce, radio talk show host who used to be a liberal feminist lesbian, but who is now a staunch independent conservative feminist lesbian; and Phyllis Schlafly, who, for those of you too young to remember her, earned the modest distinction of having almost single-handedly defeated an ill-advised amendment to the United States Constitution at a time when its passage had seemed almost inevitable. She was there, sharp as a tack at the tender age of 89 1/2, and I got a chance to speak with her briefly outside the elevators. I told her that as a liberal growing up in Berkeley the only way I knew about her was from reading Doonesbury cartoons. Her face lit up and she said that when she had made the Doonesbury pages, her kid's respect for her had spiked.
One of the most impressive women there UNDER the age of 89 1/2 to me was Carly Fiorina, who participated in the panel with John Allison and Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch. Very articulate on a broad range of issues, I think she will be a major figure on our side of the aisle for many years. I'm thinking maybe Secretary of Commerce? Or better yet, why not President ...of the Southern California Republican Women and Men in 2016? Just a thought.
Disappointingly absent from the conference were any of the female Republican Governors, like Susanna Martinez of New Mexico, Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Mary Fallin of Oklahoma or Jan Brewer of Arizona.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
The CPAC Experience
This article first appeared in the March 2014 newsletter of the Southern California Republican Women and Men.
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The good news is that the corresponding secretary and I attended the Conservative Political Action Conference or CPAC this past March 6-8. The bad news is that we missed most of it. That is to say that there was so much going on for ten hours a day for three days straight that there was no way to see and experience everything that we wanted to. From rockstar speeches to social media workshops, breakout sessions, expert panels, radio interviews, film screenings, networking opportunities, job fairs and Elvis sightings, there were at all times at least two or three things going on simultaneously that one did not want to miss, but had to choose from.
The conference was not without its controversies and detractors, even on the right side of the aisle. Even so, for conservatives groaning under the leftist regime, economy and culture of California, it was a breath of fresh air and a shot of adrenaline. The opportunity to personally meet and shake hands with such luminaries as Mike Huckabee, Michael Medved, Mark Levin, Ben Carson, John Allison, Phyllis Shlafly and Dinesh D'Souza, among others, was a special privilege. I even met a member of the Austrian parliament and Secretary General of the Austrian Freedom Party, who was there with a small entourage.
The bookends of the conference were speeches by Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin, with a high point being the announcement of the results of the Straw Poll. Rand Paul has a substantial lead above the rest of the pack with 31 percent, but it is early to write off anyone. A secondary aspect of the straw poll was the demographic information it revealed, including 46% of responding attendees being 25 years old or younger.
Tweets from CPAC
I will be presenting more detailed news from CPAC with special focus on Obamacare and taking questions at our March 29 meeting. Until then, here are some quotes from the conference which I had tweeted in real time:
@HowardHyde: #cpac2014 Ted Cruz: "You want to lose elections, stand for nothing."
#cpac2014 George Will: "How many Lois Lerners are there that we don't know about?"
#cpac2014 John Bolton: the biggest national security crisis is Barack Obama.
#cpac2014 John Bolton: We could not have ousted the Taliban if they had nuclear weapons... We must not permit Iran to get them.
#cpac2014 John Bolton: Hillary, we know what difference it makes even if you don't.
#cpac2014 Rick Perry praises conservative governors who trust the people over the machinery of government.
#cpac2014 Ken Blackwell: Unintended consequences of Obamacare may not be all Unintended.
#cpac2014 Evan Sayet, author of The Kindergarten of Eden: it is so much easier to promise Utopia than to explain principles to poorly educated people.
#cpac2014 Evan Sayet: Adopt-a-Democrat
#cpac2014 Steve Scalise: Reagan promoted American exceptionalism. Obama apologizes for it.
#cpac2014 Rich Lowry: even Democrats pay lip service to the work ethic and individual responsibility.
#cpac2014 Al Cardenas: Burger King workers in North Dakota earn $20+ per hour.
#cpac2014 Mike Lee: We need to Stop talking about Ronald Reagan and start acting like him.
New trailer for Dinesh D'Souza's 'America' Released at #cpac2014: http://www.dineshdsouza.com/
#cpac2014 Marco Rubio: "Don't take for granted what we have. What we have in America is the exception, not the rule in the world."
#cpac2014 Carly Fiorina: All issues are women's issues. Not just reproduction.
----------------------
The good news is that the corresponding secretary and I attended the Conservative Political Action Conference or CPAC this past March 6-8. The bad news is that we missed most of it. That is to say that there was so much going on for ten hours a day for three days straight that there was no way to see and experience everything that we wanted to. From rockstar speeches to social media workshops, breakout sessions, expert panels, radio interviews, film screenings, networking opportunities, job fairs and Elvis sightings, there were at all times at least two or three things going on simultaneously that one did not want to miss, but had to choose from.
The conference was not without its controversies and detractors, even on the right side of the aisle. Even so, for conservatives groaning under the leftist regime, economy and culture of California, it was a breath of fresh air and a shot of adrenaline. The opportunity to personally meet and shake hands with such luminaries as Mike Huckabee, Michael Medved, Mark Levin, Ben Carson, John Allison, Phyllis Shlafly and Dinesh D'Souza, among others, was a special privilege. I even met a member of the Austrian parliament and Secretary General of the Austrian Freedom Party, who was there with a small entourage.
The bookends of the conference were speeches by Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin, with a high point being the announcement of the results of the Straw Poll. Rand Paul has a substantial lead above the rest of the pack with 31 percent, but it is early to write off anyone. A secondary aspect of the straw poll was the demographic information it revealed, including 46% of responding attendees being 25 years old or younger.
Tweets from CPAC
I will be presenting more detailed news from CPAC with special focus on Obamacare and taking questions at our March 29 meeting. Until then, here are some quotes from the conference which I had tweeted in real time:
@HowardHyde: #cpac2014 Ted Cruz: "You want to lose elections, stand for nothing."
#cpac2014 George Will: "How many Lois Lerners are there that we don't know about?"
#cpac2014 John Bolton: the biggest national security crisis is Barack Obama.
#cpac2014 John Bolton: We could not have ousted the Taliban if they had nuclear weapons... We must not permit Iran to get them.
#cpac2014 John Bolton: Hillary, we know what difference it makes even if you don't.
#cpac2014 Rick Perry praises conservative governors who trust the people over the machinery of government.
#cpac2014 Ken Blackwell: Unintended consequences of Obamacare may not be all Unintended.
#cpac2014 Evan Sayet, author of The Kindergarten of Eden: it is so much easier to promise Utopia than to explain principles to poorly educated people.
#cpac2014 Evan Sayet: Adopt-a-Democrat
#cpac2014 Steve Scalise: Reagan promoted American exceptionalism. Obama apologizes for it.
#cpac2014 Rich Lowry: even Democrats pay lip service to the work ethic and individual responsibility.
#cpac2014 Al Cardenas: Burger King workers in North Dakota earn $20+ per hour.
#cpac2014 Mike Lee: We need to Stop talking about Ronald Reagan and start acting like him.
New trailer for Dinesh D'Souza's 'America' Released at #cpac2014: http://www.dineshdsouza.com/
#cpac2014 Marco Rubio: "Don't take for granted what we have. What we have in America is the exception, not the rule in the world."
#cpac2014 Carly Fiorina: All issues are women's issues. Not just reproduction.
Tuesday, April 08, 2014
Why be a Republican?
This message appeared in the February 2014 edition of the newsletter of the Southern California Republican Women and Men.
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Why Be a Republican?
Many people who see clearly the anti-constitutional and socialist path of destruction that our generation’s Democratic Party is taking us down, nonetheless are often reluctant to identify themselves as Republicans, much less get involved in Republican political organizations. There are many rationalizations. Politics is distasteful and divisive. The GOP is impotent in a one-party (D) state. Or, my favorite: “There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the two parties.”
Riddle: What costs more than a dime and was brought to you by one party and one party alone? Answer: Obamacare.
Even so, many would-be allies feel that the Republican party is flawed, ineffectual and/or corrupt; too liberal, too conservative, too corrupted, too libertarian, or not libertarian enough. Whatever way it cuts for you, the bottom line is this:
1) The Democratic Party of today has moved galaxies away from John F. Kennedy’s tax cuts, economic growth and strong anti-communist stance; from Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s authority on family morality and welfare; and from Joe Lieberman’s position on the Middle East in general and Israel in particular. In a word, that party today is hopeless (take it from one who was one for two or three decades).
2) The Republican Party will remain less the way you would like it precisely to the degree that you withhold your participation. In other words, if the Republican Party isn’t strong enough on taxes, join a Republican organization and exercise your influence to strengthen the party on taxes. If the party doesn’t communicate its message effectively, volunteer your outstanding communication skills. If you think the party is full of mean, nasty people, then join it and invite your kind, gentle friends to join with you and purge the mean nasties and change the face of the Party. If your name is Bob, make the Republican party the party of Bob. There is no ‘them’. You, I, we, are it, with the accent on YOU.
I am an ex-Liberal Socialist Progressive Democrat from Berkeley. I changed my mind after experiencing living under socialism abroad for 4 years and studying classical political economy and re-examining all of the presumptions of my ‘default factory setting’ (hat tip Evan Sayet). Even so, I wasn’t terribly interested in becoming a partisan political type. But I went beyond intellectual dabbling to become an activist when I realized just how dangerous our country’s direction had become with the implementation of socialized medicine.
What will it take to get you off the bench and involved, proud of the ‘R’ next to your name? See you at our next meeting.
If you found this article valuable, consider making a donation of $1 today to encourage more work like it. Visit our Donate Page or click:
------------------------------
Why Be a Republican?
Many people who see clearly the anti-constitutional and socialist path of destruction that our generation’s Democratic Party is taking us down, nonetheless are often reluctant to identify themselves as Republicans, much less get involved in Republican political organizations. There are many rationalizations. Politics is distasteful and divisive. The GOP is impotent in a one-party (D) state. Or, my favorite: “There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the two parties.”
Riddle: What costs more than a dime and was brought to you by one party and one party alone? Answer: Obamacare.
Even so, many would-be allies feel that the Republican party is flawed, ineffectual and/or corrupt; too liberal, too conservative, too corrupted, too libertarian, or not libertarian enough. Whatever way it cuts for you, the bottom line is this:
1) The Democratic Party of today has moved galaxies away from John F. Kennedy’s tax cuts, economic growth and strong anti-communist stance; from Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s authority on family morality and welfare; and from Joe Lieberman’s position on the Middle East in general and Israel in particular. In a word, that party today is hopeless (take it from one who was one for two or three decades).
2) The Republican Party will remain less the way you would like it precisely to the degree that you withhold your participation. In other words, if the Republican Party isn’t strong enough on taxes, join a Republican organization and exercise your influence to strengthen the party on taxes. If the party doesn’t communicate its message effectively, volunteer your outstanding communication skills. If you think the party is full of mean, nasty people, then join it and invite your kind, gentle friends to join with you and purge the mean nasties and change the face of the Party. If your name is Bob, make the Republican party the party of Bob. There is no ‘them’. You, I, we, are it, with the accent on YOU.
I am an ex-Liberal Socialist Progressive Democrat from Berkeley. I changed my mind after experiencing living under socialism abroad for 4 years and studying classical political economy and re-examining all of the presumptions of my ‘default factory setting’ (hat tip Evan Sayet). Even so, I wasn’t terribly interested in becoming a partisan political type. But I went beyond intellectual dabbling to become an activist when I realized just how dangerous our country’s direction had become with the implementation of socialized medicine.
What will it take to get you off the bench and involved, proud of the ‘R’ next to your name? See you at our next meeting.
If you found this article valuable, consider making a donation of $1 today to encourage more work like it. Visit our Donate Page or click:
Monday, April 07, 2014
College Republicans Speak to Southern California Republican Women and Men
This article appeared in the January 2014 edition of the newsletter of the Southern California Republican Women and Men, introducing the featured panel that was to speak to the club on January 25 at the 94th Aerosquadron restaurant at the Vanuatu Nuys airport.
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Our Academic Panel for the the January Meeting
We have a very special panel of speakers for our January 2014 meeting, consisting of student presidents of Republican clubs at our universities. These courageous young people are taking the fight to perhaps the most hostile territory for conservative and Republican ideas that there is in our society today: the university campus. They deserve our admiration and support.
With the exception of a few institutions like Hillsdale College and George Mason University, the progressive socialist education cartel has a diabolical lock on the minds of our students and by extension our future citizens and voters. Through the union-controlled elementary and secondary schools and like-minded professoriat, they ensure that young people get a steady, life-long diet of leftist socialist progressive thought that puts conservative, libertarian and even constitutional principles beyond the pale.
What should be an environment of open inquiry, free thinking and diversity of viewpoints – a liberal arts education – has become instead a closed club of political correctness and speech codes. By limiting the supply of students even exposed to conservative ideas, the future supply of conservative professors is effectively suppressed.
Not all students fed the liberal socialist diet remain that way forever; many young people, once they get mugged by the reality of work and production, business and family, freedom and responsibility, have a significant change of outlook and philosophy. But unless they act quickly while they are yet young, there will be little opportunity to pursue academic careers and counter the leftist bias on campus. Thus the club is insulated from effective feedback or correction. The most critical element of the scientific method is falsifiability; this element is completely suppressed in the the social sciences at our universities.
The Leadership Institute, Prager University, Ron Paul's education project, David Horrowitz’s Freedom Center, FrontPageMag.com, Breitbart.com, the Tea Party Patriots, AmericanThinker.com, the Cato Institute and other conservative, Tea Party and libertarian organizations are putting in a noble effort. But it is most definitely an uphill battle for the minds of the next generation.
----------------
Our Academic Panel for the the January Meeting
We have a very special panel of speakers for our January 2014 meeting, consisting of student presidents of Republican clubs at our universities. These courageous young people are taking the fight to perhaps the most hostile territory for conservative and Republican ideas that there is in our society today: the university campus. They deserve our admiration and support.
With the exception of a few institutions like Hillsdale College and George Mason University, the progressive socialist education cartel has a diabolical lock on the minds of our students and by extension our future citizens and voters. Through the union-controlled elementary and secondary schools and like-minded professoriat, they ensure that young people get a steady, life-long diet of leftist socialist progressive thought that puts conservative, libertarian and even constitutional principles beyond the pale.
What should be an environment of open inquiry, free thinking and diversity of viewpoints – a liberal arts education – has become instead a closed club of political correctness and speech codes. By limiting the supply of students even exposed to conservative ideas, the future supply of conservative professors is effectively suppressed.
Not all students fed the liberal socialist diet remain that way forever; many young people, once they get mugged by the reality of work and production, business and family, freedom and responsibility, have a significant change of outlook and philosophy. But unless they act quickly while they are yet young, there will be little opportunity to pursue academic careers and counter the leftist bias on campus. Thus the club is insulated from effective feedback or correction. The most critical element of the scientific method is falsifiability; this element is completely suppressed in the the social sciences at our universities.
The Leadership Institute, Prager University, Ron Paul's education project, David Horrowitz’s Freedom Center, FrontPageMag.com, Breitbart.com, the Tea Party Patriots, AmericanThinker.com, the Cato Institute and other conservative, Tea Party and libertarian organizations are putting in a noble effort. But it is most definitely an uphill battle for the minds of the next generation.
Sunday, April 06, 2014
President of Southern California Republican Women and Men
Last November I was elected President of the Southern California Republican Women and Men, an independent club established 1935, for 2014. Below is what I wrote for our January 2014 newsletter:
President’s Message
The 2014 election cycle is upon us, and the stakes are the highest they’ve ever been. From Benghazi to Teheran and from Washington to Cedar Rapids, the Obama-Reid-Pelosi administration has been an unmitigated disaster for America and the free world. We will be living with the consequences for years, perhaps generations.
Obamacare (and/or whatever single-payer or other system the leftists manage to put in place after the collapse) poses a singular threat to our survival as a nation of free and prosperous people living under the Constitution and rule of law.
Socialized medicine cuts to the core of who we are as a people, our national character. When a supermajority of the American citizenry becomes slave-wards to the state, having surrendered all control of the most intimate details of our lives, dependent upon Washington for every band-aid and condom, then there is no way we will be able to lead in a dangerous world requiring sacrificial initiative, creative courage and independent thinking. We will, in the words of Ronald Reagan, be “telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
For these reasons, Republican retention of the House of Representatives and capture of the Senate is critical. We Californians do not have a senator up for re-election, but we can support challengers against vulnerable Democrats in other states. As a matter of strategy, we can identifiy the senators whose constitutuents are polling most opposed to Obamacare, and go on offense in those races. Tea partiers need to get out in front of moderate Republicans and established power brokers who would dilute the campaigns. Above all, complacency is not an option.
In spite of the manifest daily disasters of Obamacare, there will remain many citizens who are not as alarmed as you and I are. On such people we may work three words: Jobs, jobs and jobs. Because of the Obama administration’s open hostility to free markets, capitalism, entrepreneurs, constitutional principles and liberty itself, we have the worst employment environment in over 30 years, with the labor force participation rate the lowest in 35 years, giving the lie to the ‘official’ unemployment rate. Black youth unemployment in particular is, in an ultimate irony, at catastrophic levels. People who are losing their jobs, being cut to part-time or seeing their friends and family suffer the same, are opening up to alternative explanations of what’s going on and why.
We can expect little help from big donors or top-down power brokers. The fate of our country is in the hands of us, the grassroots, talking to our neighbors. Let’s start by showing up!
President’s Message
The 2014 election cycle is upon us, and the stakes are the highest they’ve ever been. From Benghazi to Teheran and from Washington to Cedar Rapids, the Obama-Reid-Pelosi administration has been an unmitigated disaster for America and the free world. We will be living with the consequences for years, perhaps generations.
Obamacare (and/or whatever single-payer or other system the leftists manage to put in place after the collapse) poses a singular threat to our survival as a nation of free and prosperous people living under the Constitution and rule of law.
Socialized medicine cuts to the core of who we are as a people, our national character. When a supermajority of the American citizenry becomes slave-wards to the state, having surrendered all control of the most intimate details of our lives, dependent upon Washington for every band-aid and condom, then there is no way we will be able to lead in a dangerous world requiring sacrificial initiative, creative courage and independent thinking. We will, in the words of Ronald Reagan, be “telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
For these reasons, Republican retention of the House of Representatives and capture of the Senate is critical. We Californians do not have a senator up for re-election, but we can support challengers against vulnerable Democrats in other states. As a matter of strategy, we can identifiy the senators whose constitutuents are polling most opposed to Obamacare, and go on offense in those races. Tea partiers need to get out in front of moderate Republicans and established power brokers who would dilute the campaigns. Above all, complacency is not an option.
In spite of the manifest daily disasters of Obamacare, there will remain many citizens who are not as alarmed as you and I are. On such people we may work three words: Jobs, jobs and jobs. Because of the Obama administration’s open hostility to free markets, capitalism, entrepreneurs, constitutional principles and liberty itself, we have the worst employment environment in over 30 years, with the labor force participation rate the lowest in 35 years, giving the lie to the ‘official’ unemployment rate. Black youth unemployment in particular is, in an ultimate irony, at catastrophic levels. People who are losing their jobs, being cut to part-time or seeing their friends and family suffer the same, are opening up to alternative explanations of what’s going on and why.
We can expect little help from big donors or top-down power brokers. The fate of our country is in the hands of us, the grassroots, talking to our neighbors. Let’s start by showing up!
Friday, September 09, 2011
Top Articles
- Remembering 9/11: Capitalism under attack
The innocent victims of 9/11 died for living, and thereby defending, freedom and capitalism. Among the honors we give to them, let us continue to defend the same principles.
- Nothing To Do About Jobs
The one thing the government hasn't tried for at least 3 years is to get out of the way.
- Hispanic Voters, Immigration and the Republican Party
The Hard Right and Extreme Left both need to give way to the Sober Center
- A Well-Deserved Defeat for Leftism
The Left cannot admit that capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty than any other system.
- It's the Over-regulation, Stupid!
God help you if you don't do with your money what the Left thinks you ought.
- The Left’s Secret Debating Weapon: Shallowness
While the conservative assembles focused logic and facts, the Leftist sprays vacuous clichés in all directions.
- Is There Hope for Califrancia?
The Left kept California in 2010, so they own the bankruptcy.
- Republicans and the Immigration Trap
The next elections are too important to sacrifice over illegal gardeners.
- Environmental Hoaxes and Immigration
Human beings living under liberty and the rule of law are the ultimate resource.
- 121 Reasons to Reject Obama-Reid-PelosiCare
It's Unnecessary, it's destructive and it won't work.
- Bozo Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace committee humiliated the president. Does he know it?
- Public Billionaires vs. Private Millionaires
Why do politicians who command billions want us to envy and resent people who earn 1/20,000th as much?
- Illegal Immigration, 1806 -2006
The Homestead Act of 1862 demonstrates how law can eventually catch up with reality.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Hispanic Voters, Immigration and the Republican Party
The Hard Right and Extreme Left both need to give way to the Sober Center
Two of the most miserable groups on the American political scene, especially in my beloved California, are Republicans on the one hand and Hispanic immigrants on the other; Republicans because in spite of the Tea Party wave sweeping the nation they face nearly insurmountable challenges (bordering on impotence and irrelevancy in California), and Hispanic immigrants because they can’t get their legal status normalized despite the power of their supposed friends in Washington DC. Caught in the crossfire are Hispanic American citizen voters and libertarian-minded Republicans who want the Tea Party movement to succeed in rolling back bloated government, ObamaCare, public employee union privileges and the rest, but favor a (classical-) liberal free-market approach to immigration policy.
There can be little room for compromise on restoring limited, constitutional government, low taxes, sane regulation, fiscal responsibility and with them renewed job growth and economic strength. But the immigration issue is one where the extremes must be reined in towards the center, for their own good and for the good of the country.
To the Republicans it must be repeated: There are 20 million Hispanic voters (US citizens, not talking about illegal aliens) in the US, and Hispanics are the single fastest-growing sector of the population, up 43 percent in the last decade. Republicans can’t win elections without gaining the hearts and minds of a substantial percentage of this diverse population. They will continue to fail if they appear hostile to Hispanic voters’ cousins.
Even so, to the undocumented immigrant population it must be told: You won’t succeed without Republican support at the national level. Notice that you got nowhere – and late – with Democrats when they had all the power in 2009 and 2010. Fortunately the most compelling arguments in favor of legal normalization are those that spring from the principles of free markets, limited government, individual responsibility, work ethic, familiy values, free trade and capitalism. These are (or should be) guiding principles of the Republican party. If you can embrace these and discard the false promises of socialistic welfare policies offered by the Democrats (the effects of which after all are what you fled from in Latin America) then you will find allies and solutions.
Unfortunately, much of the self-appointed political activist immigration reform movement elite are out for power for themselves first and tend to lean hard Left. For that reason, Republicans must make their appeals and outreach directly to the people at large rather than wasting too much effort trying to make nice with adversarial power brokers.
The Obama-Reid-Pelosi administration may have blundered fatally by ramming the government takeover of healthcare down the throats of the American people before they (the Democrats) had shored up support of the Hispanic voting bloc. Imagine if they had poured half as much energy into pushing the Dream Act or some other sweeping immigration reform in 2009. After the smoke from that battle had cleared, unlike healthcare the political body count likely would have emerged as a net gain for Democrats, who would then still have ammunition to spare to pass ObamaCare in 2010 with greater support left over for its defense in the aftermath. Instead they gave the flesh-and-blood people they had shed so many crocodile tears for the short stick while pouring all of their energy into a largely abstract goal of comprehensive health care ‘reform’ first. They ticked off not only their enemies but also their supposed friends.
This is a blunder upon which Republicans can and must capitalize. The Republican share of the Hispanic vote rose again in 2010 to 38% (in congressional races) from its low of ~20% in 2008. The question is whether Republicans can maintain the momentum or if they will do what they have been too good at in the past, which is to alienate people with emotional rants foaming at the mouth against illegal aliens, providing ample fuel for the Democat-Academia-Media machine to exploit.
Republicans opposed to compromise on immigration restrictions, border enforcement, amnesty etc. need to consider priorities. This country has serious problems, which were NOT caused by immigrants. Cap and Tax, Card Check, profligate ‘stimulus’ waste, too-big-to-fail bailouts, public employee union Ponzi-scheme pension liabilities and out-of-control administrative agencies like the EPA are greater threats than gardeners and house cleaners. The violence associated with narcotraffic is not an immigration issue; it is the radioactive fallout of the prohibition of substances that Americans demand and support with their dollars at a rate three times greater per capita than the nearest rival country. ObamaCare threatens to fundamentally alter the relationship between the federal government and the citizen in ways not seen since the Constitution was ratified.
These are the priority battles that must be fought without taking prisoners. Immigration calls for moderation and a sober, dispassionate look at the economic and social impact.
Two of the most miserable groups on the American political scene, especially in my beloved California, are Republicans on the one hand and Hispanic immigrants on the other; Republicans because in spite of the Tea Party wave sweeping the nation they face nearly insurmountable challenges (bordering on impotence and irrelevancy in California), and Hispanic immigrants because they can’t get their legal status normalized despite the power of their supposed friends in Washington DC. Caught in the crossfire are Hispanic American citizen voters and libertarian-minded Republicans who want the Tea Party movement to succeed in rolling back bloated government, ObamaCare, public employee union privileges and the rest, but favor a (classical-) liberal free-market approach to immigration policy.
There can be little room for compromise on restoring limited, constitutional government, low taxes, sane regulation, fiscal responsibility and with them renewed job growth and economic strength. But the immigration issue is one where the extremes must be reined in towards the center, for their own good and for the good of the country.
To the Republicans it must be repeated: There are 20 million Hispanic voters (US citizens, not talking about illegal aliens) in the US, and Hispanics are the single fastest-growing sector of the population, up 43 percent in the last decade. Republicans can’t win elections without gaining the hearts and minds of a substantial percentage of this diverse population. They will continue to fail if they appear hostile to Hispanic voters’ cousins.
Even so, to the undocumented immigrant population it must be told: You won’t succeed without Republican support at the national level. Notice that you got nowhere – and late – with Democrats when they had all the power in 2009 and 2010. Fortunately the most compelling arguments in favor of legal normalization are those that spring from the principles of free markets, limited government, individual responsibility, work ethic, familiy values, free trade and capitalism. These are (or should be) guiding principles of the Republican party. If you can embrace these and discard the false promises of socialistic welfare policies offered by the Democrats (the effects of which after all are what you fled from in Latin America) then you will find allies and solutions.
Unfortunately, much of the self-appointed political activist immigration reform movement elite are out for power for themselves first and tend to lean hard Left. For that reason, Republicans must make their appeals and outreach directly to the people at large rather than wasting too much effort trying to make nice with adversarial power brokers.
The Obama-Reid-Pelosi administration may have blundered fatally by ramming the government takeover of healthcare down the throats of the American people before they (the Democrats) had shored up support of the Hispanic voting bloc. Imagine if they had poured half as much energy into pushing the Dream Act or some other sweeping immigration reform in 2009. After the smoke from that battle had cleared, unlike healthcare the political body count likely would have emerged as a net gain for Democrats, who would then still have ammunition to spare to pass ObamaCare in 2010 with greater support left over for its defense in the aftermath. Instead they gave the flesh-and-blood people they had shed so many crocodile tears for the short stick while pouring all of their energy into a largely abstract goal of comprehensive health care ‘reform’ first. They ticked off not only their enemies but also their supposed friends.
This is a blunder upon which Republicans can and must capitalize. The Republican share of the Hispanic vote rose again in 2010 to 38% (in congressional races) from its low of ~20% in 2008. The question is whether Republicans can maintain the momentum or if they will do what they have been too good at in the past, which is to alienate people with emotional rants foaming at the mouth against illegal aliens, providing ample fuel for the Democat-Academia-Media machine to exploit.
Republicans opposed to compromise on immigration restrictions, border enforcement, amnesty etc. need to consider priorities. This country has serious problems, which were NOT caused by immigrants. Cap and Tax, Card Check, profligate ‘stimulus’ waste, too-big-to-fail bailouts, public employee union Ponzi-scheme pension liabilities and out-of-control administrative agencies like the EPA are greater threats than gardeners and house cleaners. The violence associated with narcotraffic is not an immigration issue; it is the radioactive fallout of the prohibition of substances that Americans demand and support with their dollars at a rate three times greater per capita than the nearest rival country. ObamaCare threatens to fundamentally alter the relationship between the federal government and the citizen in ways not seen since the Constitution was ratified.
These are the priority battles that must be fought without taking prisoners. Immigration calls for moderation and a sober, dispassionate look at the economic and social impact.
Saturday, May 08, 2010
Republicans and the Immigration Trap
The next 2 elections are too important to sacrifice over illegal gardeners.
Americans are understandably upset by the failure of the federal government to implement and enforce an unambiguous legal standard with respect to the border and unlawful immigration, especially where this has permitted violent crimes to occur and go unpunished. Republicans in particular are incensed by Democrat’s pandering to hispanics for votes by handing out taxpayer-financed goodies to their favored groups, including illegal aliens. ObamaCare has poured gasoline on the fire by acting as a giant magnet for fraud in addition to the merely destructive but still ‘legal’ aspects of socialized health care.
Fairly or unfairly, it falls to Republicans to deal with this challenge intelligently and objectively, and not fall over themselves in their eagerness to step into the political traps so obviously set for them by Democrats.
There are at least two major threats to Republican’s hopes of success this November and in 2012, failing which ObamaCare and other nationalizations will take permanent root in our society, and America’s decline into a European-style socialist has-been nation, governed from Belgium and the UN, may be irreversible. The first is that in spite of an abysmal economic record, ObamaReidPelosi will succeed in getting so many more people dependent upon government for whatever they have, that not enough free Americans will remain with the courage to rock the boat back to liberty. This strategy was brilliantly successful for FDR, delivering to him 3 re-elections during this nation’s Great Depression. The second is that Democrats will successfully (note I didn’t say fairly) paint Republicans as reactionary, bigoted racists, and take from them what little share they have left of the Hispanic vote. At the very least, we must not make this easy for them.
It is fitting and proper for Republicans to stand on principle and oppose bad policy. But we cannot win if we are perceived as being against people; in opposition to a huge cross-section of our society, simply for being who they are. Illegal immigrants didn’t cause the Great Recession. Immigration as a proportion of population is about a third of what it was in the peak years of the early 20th century. Contrary to public perception and anecdotal outrages, increased immigration is associated with lower, not higher crime rates overall. The greatest threats to our liberty and prosperity come from Washington itself (and Sacramento … and City Hall in the case of my beloved Los Angeles), followed by Academia, the mainstream media and Hollywood. Republicans need to contain their anger, refrain from foaming at the mouth whenever the subject of illegal immigration comes up, and go on positive offense.
That positive offense can take the form of a series of small legislative proposals – not everything has to be done by sensational, sweeping, grandiose, corrupt, pork-laden omnibus comprehensive bills that make headlines for years on end – to fix the most acute problems in the system. Each bill can stand alone, that is, be proposed, debated and voted on on its own merits; it doesn’t have to be bundled with a hundred others. The good news is that even as we alternate restrictions with concessions, the latter should permit more effective use of law enforcement resources while making it harder for the criminal element to hide among the innocent population.
For example:
• Focus law enforcement on felony criminal activity like murder, rape, assault, grand theft auto, arms and drug trafficking. Stop pursuing illegals whose only crime is being here without permission.
• Build and patrol the border fence.
• Deny (or delay for 10 years) citizenship to anyone who cannot prove that they entered the country through legal channels.
• Stop printing official government election materials in foreign languages at taxpayer expense. We are an English-speaking nation.
• Offer a relatively painless path to legal residency status (not citizenship) to people already here.
• Strengthen standards for knowledge of the English language and American civic institutions, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, as a requirement for citizenship.
• Offer accelerated citizenship to persons who serve honorably in the US armed services.
• Amend the US Constitution such that babies born in the US to foreign parents do not automatically become American citizens. No more ‘anchor babies’ (news flash: slavery was abolished 150 years ago).
• Increase or abolish H1-B visa quotas. It makes no sense to educate foreigners in our universities and then chase them away when they are ready to produce wealth and jobs in the USA.
• Relax restrictions on immigrants who come through proper border crossings who openly state their intention to seek work, whether permanently or seasonally. Photograph them, fingerprint them, register them in a nationwide database and test them for infectious disease as necessary, but let them through with legal residency (not citizen) status. Collect from each a payment for catastrophic health insurance coverage that is substantially less than illegal ‘coyote’ smuggling fees. By making it easier for honest workers to come through the front door, law enforcement can focus limited resources on criminal activity coming through the back door.
• Allow/require state and local law enforcement to investigate the legal or immigration status of all criminal suspects, persons of interest or defendants. No ‘sanctuary city’ or any other policies should be permitted to serve as cover for criminals and their activities.
• Stop conducting raids on commercial businesses which are intended to root out illegal workers, unless there is specific, probable cause of felony criminal activity. The drug traffickers are not cutting up chickens for $4/hour. Offering and accepting employment at mutually agreeable terms is not fundamentally a crime (if it were, it would still be the least of any immigration problems).
I’m sure you can think of more of you own. Even if not a single one of these gets a hearing in Nancy Pelosi’s Congress, if Republicans introduce one per week from here to November, Americans will recognize who the grown-ups are who are serious, responsible and really trying to help. We can take the political advantage away from the Democrats and make them play defense.
Even if you think some of these proposals are too lenient, liberal, or slouching toward ‘amnesty’, that judgment has to be balanced against the larger picture of what’s at stake. Do you want to win the argument or the war?
Don’t take the bait; take the initiative.
Americans are understandably upset by the failure of the federal government to implement and enforce an unambiguous legal standard with respect to the border and unlawful immigration, especially where this has permitted violent crimes to occur and go unpunished. Republicans in particular are incensed by Democrat’s pandering to hispanics for votes by handing out taxpayer-financed goodies to their favored groups, including illegal aliens. ObamaCare has poured gasoline on the fire by acting as a giant magnet for fraud in addition to the merely destructive but still ‘legal’ aspects of socialized health care.
Fairly or unfairly, it falls to Republicans to deal with this challenge intelligently and objectively, and not fall over themselves in their eagerness to step into the political traps so obviously set for them by Democrats.
There are at least two major threats to Republican’s hopes of success this November and in 2012, failing which ObamaCare and other nationalizations will take permanent root in our society, and America’s decline into a European-style socialist has-been nation, governed from Belgium and the UN, may be irreversible. The first is that in spite of an abysmal economic record, ObamaReidPelosi will succeed in getting so many more people dependent upon government for whatever they have, that not enough free Americans will remain with the courage to rock the boat back to liberty. This strategy was brilliantly successful for FDR, delivering to him 3 re-elections during this nation’s Great Depression. The second is that Democrats will successfully (note I didn’t say fairly) paint Republicans as reactionary, bigoted racists, and take from them what little share they have left of the Hispanic vote. At the very least, we must not make this easy for them.
It is fitting and proper for Republicans to stand on principle and oppose bad policy. But we cannot win if we are perceived as being against people; in opposition to a huge cross-section of our society, simply for being who they are. Illegal immigrants didn’t cause the Great Recession. Immigration as a proportion of population is about a third of what it was in the peak years of the early 20th century. Contrary to public perception and anecdotal outrages, increased immigration is associated with lower, not higher crime rates overall. The greatest threats to our liberty and prosperity come from Washington itself (and Sacramento … and City Hall in the case of my beloved Los Angeles), followed by Academia, the mainstream media and Hollywood. Republicans need to contain their anger, refrain from foaming at the mouth whenever the subject of illegal immigration comes up, and go on positive offense.
That positive offense can take the form of a series of small legislative proposals – not everything has to be done by sensational, sweeping, grandiose, corrupt, pork-laden omnibus comprehensive bills that make headlines for years on end – to fix the most acute problems in the system. Each bill can stand alone, that is, be proposed, debated and voted on on its own merits; it doesn’t have to be bundled with a hundred others. The good news is that even as we alternate restrictions with concessions, the latter should permit more effective use of law enforcement resources while making it harder for the criminal element to hide among the innocent population.
For example:
• Focus law enforcement on felony criminal activity like murder, rape, assault, grand theft auto, arms and drug trafficking. Stop pursuing illegals whose only crime is being here without permission.
• Build and patrol the border fence.
• Deny (or delay for 10 years) citizenship to anyone who cannot prove that they entered the country through legal channels.
• Stop printing official government election materials in foreign languages at taxpayer expense. We are an English-speaking nation.
• Offer a relatively painless path to legal residency status (not citizenship) to people already here.
• Strengthen standards for knowledge of the English language and American civic institutions, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, as a requirement for citizenship.
• Offer accelerated citizenship to persons who serve honorably in the US armed services.
• Amend the US Constitution such that babies born in the US to foreign parents do not automatically become American citizens. No more ‘anchor babies’ (news flash: slavery was abolished 150 years ago).
• Increase or abolish H1-B visa quotas. It makes no sense to educate foreigners in our universities and then chase them away when they are ready to produce wealth and jobs in the USA.
• Relax restrictions on immigrants who come through proper border crossings who openly state their intention to seek work, whether permanently or seasonally. Photograph them, fingerprint them, register them in a nationwide database and test them for infectious disease as necessary, but let them through with legal residency (not citizen) status. Collect from each a payment for catastrophic health insurance coverage that is substantially less than illegal ‘coyote’ smuggling fees. By making it easier for honest workers to come through the front door, law enforcement can focus limited resources on criminal activity coming through the back door.
• Allow/require state and local law enforcement to investigate the legal or immigration status of all criminal suspects, persons of interest or defendants. No ‘sanctuary city’ or any other policies should be permitted to serve as cover for criminals and their activities.
• Stop conducting raids on commercial businesses which are intended to root out illegal workers, unless there is specific, probable cause of felony criminal activity. The drug traffickers are not cutting up chickens for $4/hour. Offering and accepting employment at mutually agreeable terms is not fundamentally a crime (if it were, it would still be the least of any immigration problems).
I’m sure you can think of more of you own. Even if not a single one of these gets a hearing in Nancy Pelosi’s Congress, if Republicans introduce one per week from here to November, Americans will recognize who the grown-ups are who are serious, responsible and really trying to help. We can take the political advantage away from the Democrats and make them play defense.
Even if you think some of these proposals are too lenient, liberal, or slouching toward ‘amnesty’, that judgment has to be balanced against the larger picture of what’s at stake. Do you want to win the argument or the war?
Don’t take the bait; take the initiative.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
The Conservative and Republican Trump Card: Hispanic Voters
The Republican share of the hispanic vote has dwindled from a high of 40% in 2004 to 20% in 2008. But it doesn’t have to be this way; it could be 60 or even 80%. Republicans needn’t write off this segment of the population, and we certainly shouldn’t stupidly alienate it if we want to have a say in how our government is run and our country evolves in the next generation.
In general, hispanic citizens are hard-working, self-reliant, pro-family, pro-Judeo-Christian values; pro-Life, pro-school choice. These qualities should endear it to the conservative movement and the Republican party. There are plenty of hispanics in America, even those who participate in the Spanish-language talk radio forums (that I listen to and occasionally participate in), who are appalled at Barack Obama’s economic policies, his brownnosing of foreign leaders and entities, and the reclassification of foreign terrorists as common criminals subject to constitutional protections.
All the conservative movement and the Republican party would need to do to win this segment back to its side is make a sincere outreach appeal and stop appearing to foam at the mouth every time the topic of immigration, legal or illegal, comes up.
Conservative principles of limited government, free markets, free people, duty, honor and country, are not limited by ethnic origin, color or religion, and they do not stop at the border. There is no reason that conservatives can not support liberal (small ‘L’) free-trade policies with other countries and immigration policies that recognize the need for and benefit from immigrants both at the very low and the very high end of the education and skill levels, where they compliment our native-born medium-level average. There is certainly no good capitalist economic argument for undue restriction of trade or immigration.
This doesn’t mean roll over and play dead when Democrats nominate leftist socialist hispanics to high office, as in the case of Sonia Sotomayor. We have to take principled opposing stands and promote our people, of whom we have plenty ‘of color’. But it does mean refraining from painting 12 million people with a broad brush as some kind of criminal underground. To the contrary, reach out, educate this population in American civic values, and win them and their voting citizen cousins to our cause.
To do the right thing by their own principles and to win elections once more, conservatives need to TAKE THE LEAD in liberalizing trade and immigration laws under the rule of law, to make it easier for honest people to come here legally in order all the better to isolate the miscreants who violate our borders for criminal and/or terrorist purposes. By taking the lead in immigration reform, Republicans can take the election issue advantage away from the Democrats and prevent their worst and most irresponsible notions from becoming law over our impotent opposition.
Hispanics for Republicans? ¡Si, se puede!
Resources:
- American Thinker: Conservative Republican Values and the American Hispanic Mind
- The United States Needs More Conservative Opinion in Spanish
- National Review Online: Bush’s “Real” Hispanic Numbers
- Cato Institute: Will Democrats Err in Immigration Reforms?
- Daniel Griswold: As Immigrants Move In, Americans Move Up
- Wall Street Journal: sunshine for McCain
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